Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick cracked open a previously shut door, answering "maybe" to a potential White House run after the 2016 election. Our reaction: The optics are bad and the timing premature.

The Governor’s still has a long “to do” list, with plenty of time to reflect on his accomplishments, over two terms in office, before floating a national trial balloon for 2020. As the Commonwealth’s troubles multiply in recent months, we note several pressing problems that need his urgent attention: The state's Department of Children and Families is under constant fire, beginning after the disappearance of a 5-year-old boy in its care and additional troubling revelations since.

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Bridgewater State Hospital is facing a lawsuit in the wake of a patient's death, while guards were restraining him. The state's health insurance website - once a national model - is so dysfunctional that its executive director broke into tears when discussing its shortcomings.

And the state's process for licensing medical marijuana dispensaries has been messy at best, with critics decrying hints of insider dealings, misleading applications, and questionable characters.

That's just a short list from a much bigger agenda for the Governor to address in his final ten months on Beacon Hill. Governor Patrick can certainly point to a number of achievements during his time in office, but the tide has turned of late. A leader who can finish the job, demonstrating progress on a myriad of difficult issues, will deserve presidential speculation … when the time is right.